A LOCAL councillor is on a mission to find out more about a Dalry miner who emigrated to Australia over a century ago and wrote a book of verses dedicated to the Garnock Valley.

Robert Barr’s quest to find out what happened to Arthur Alan ‘Dalry’ Wilson OBE has taken the Dalry and West Kilbride councillor to the other side of the world.

Councillor Barr was intrigued when a friend lent him Dalry Wilson’s book, 'Cantatas, Poems, Songs'. 

Published in 1929, it contains a selection of verses in Old Scots, such as Glengarnock Tow’r, Toad of the Mine, and Kilburnie, Keep Your Lassies In.

When Councillor Barr recently visited his son in Australia, he decided to try and follow the trail of Dalry Wilson and hoped to find any surviving copies of his book.

He told the Herald: “I’m on a mission!

“Before you and I were here, this man – who was a Dalry man – went to Collie in Western Australia at the turn of the last century. 

“He wrote this book while he was out there but for some reason he had it published by Arthur Guthrie and Sons in Ardrossan. I’d really like to find another copy of his book.

“When my wife and I were in Collie I went to the library. The librarians couldn’t have been any nicer or more helpful but we couldn’t find the book. 

“As far as I know he emigrated there as a miner and became secretary of the miners’ union then an MP for the area. It’s still a mining town today.” 

Dalry Wilson was born in 1869 and started work in the Scottish coal mines by age 12. He emigrated to Australia in the early 1880s and went on to become the Secretary of the Victoria Coal Miners’ Association, then later Secretary of Collie Miners’ Union.

In 1892, Dalry married Mary Jane Lamb, a mill worker, and they had one son and two daughters.

From 1908-1947, Dalry was the Labour MP for Collie and was the Parliamentary Party Whip for 20 years.

He died in 1948 and is buried at Karrakatta Cemetery in Western Australia.